That Joannie Rochette and Jennifer Robinson should glide into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame together makes perfect sense.

Over a 15-year stretch beginning in the early 1990s, they were at or near the pinnacle of women’s skating in Canada. Robinson won five consecutive national titles and six overall, before Rochette reeled off six in a row. Only one woman, the late Constance Wilson-Samuel, won more Canadian championships, with nine during the 1920s and ’30s.

“I think it’s pretty cool because when I first got on the team, Jennifer was our national champion,” Rochette said Monday, after Skate Canada announced the eight inductees for 2017.

“I remember my first nationals at the senior level. I came third and she won. Of course I have always been looking up to her. She was always kind of pushing the limits for Canadian ladies. I think she really inspired a lot of Canadian girls, including me. It’s pretty cool to be in the same year as her.”

A fairly clear line of succession can be drawn from Karen Magnussen and Lynn Nightingale to Kay Thomson, Liz Manley and Josée Chouinard, to Robinson and Rochette, and on to current champ Kaetlyn Osmond.

Rochette, 31, learned of her induction about three weeks ago, and it came as a surprise.

“I wasn’t expecting it that soon. I haven’t been skating much for the last year, so I kind of feel that I’m out of the skating loop.”

She retired from international skating in 2010. Robinson last competed for Canada in 2004, and she too was taken aback by the honour.

“I couldn’t believe it, actually. It’s not something you ever expect,” said Robinson. “And I was thrilled. You kind of get flushed and red and excited and embarrassed all at the same time because it’s really big news.”

The 40-year-old shared it with husband Shane Dennison and their two daughters, six-year-old Rilyn and seven-year-old Reese.

“My two young daughters, they don’t know much about me as a skater,” said Robinson. “They know that I did skate. It’s kind of a neat thing that they can see who momma used to be.”

On the ice and off, Robinson and Rochette were the epitome of grace and poise. They both retired on their own terms, after fulfilling careers, and are happily moving forward. Robinson served on city council in Barrie, Ont., and has returned to coaching at a club in Eganville, Ont., while Rochette is studying medicine at McGill University in Montreal.

“It was everything I wanted since I was eight and I achieved it,” Robinson said when asked to reflect on her Hall of Fame career. “I carry my memories and experiences and the ups and downs close to my heart, but as life moves on you don’t tend to look back on your career and think, wow, that was pretty cool. It’s a nice surreal moment to think about that.”

The induction has also caused Rochette to reflect on her starry achievements, which include Olympic bronze and world championship silver.

“It’s a great time to realize it was really teamwork, what Skate Canada did for their athletes through the years, all the volunteers, all the coaches. This honour is shared with my coach Manon (Perron) and my whole team of support from my hometown who came to so many of those national championships.”

Both Robinson and Rochette pointed to an Olympic experience as one of their career highlights. Robinson was seventh in 2002.

“It was a tremendous moment,” she said. “There are very few things in life that live up to the hype and being part of an Olympic team, representing Canada on the Olympic stage, it surpassed my expectations. Not only from the standpoint of competing well, all the other stuff that went into it and being a part of a multi-sport Olympic team.”

Rochette won bronze in 2010 in Vancouver, just days after her mother Thérèse died.

“Winning an Olympic medal has always been my biggest dream. The way it happened was definitely not what I was dreaming about, losing my mother two days before. But I would say it’s one of the proudest moments of my career.”

Also in the Skate Canada class of 2017 are coaches Josée Picard and Éric Gilles; Ron Vincent, a coach and advocate for coaching instruction; Hamilton Spectator columnist Steve Milton; and coaches Sadie and Albert Enders, who are being inducted posthumously.